Blown away by wind power in Denmark, a model for clean energy

I look out the window of the
crowded Scandinavian Airlines plane – bleary-eyed after a sleepless, 8-hour flight – as it makes its final approach to the Copenhagen airport one recent morning.

The first thing I see are the
wind turbines that hug the coast, spinning steadily like white jewels against
the blue water. For a moment I wonder if I’m hallucinating.

What are wind turbines doing so
close to civilization and adjacent to Denmark’s main airport?

Back in the United
States, I have to travel far beyond my Washington suburb to spot any signs of
wind energy. In Denmark, it’s ever-present.

You can’t drive more than a few
kilometers on the country’s flat roads without seeing a turbine. They are fully
integrated into society and part of the landscape everywhere.

And that’s not by accident.

From zero to 30% renewables in 30 years. How?

During my 10-day visit with my
brother and his Danish family at the end of July, I witnessed a society where the political debate isn’t over a “war on coal” or whether
climate change is real. I saw a society that has proudly and vigorously
embraced the clean energy future and is racing toward it.

Accelerating from nearly zero percent
as recently as the mid-80s, wind power now provides about 30 percent of
Denmark’s electricity. And the Danes aren’t done. They have plans to grow that number to 50 percent
by 2020 and to be 100 percent renewable by 2050.

All of this – and more – is possible
here in the United States, too, believe it or not. We enjoy some of the world’s
best wind and solar resources.

But despite our rapid wind
and solar energy growth in recent years, we’ve only just begun to tap these clean energy treasures.

So how did Denmark manage to ramp up clean energy when we’re just getting started?

One: Wind energy was made a national priority

Denmark’s clean energy
progress began in response to the oil crises of the 1970s. In 1973, the year I
was born, 95 percent of Denmark’s energy consumption was based on imported oil.
Initially, Denmark responded to the 1973 and 1979 oil crises by transitioning
to coal, which still generates about half of Denmark’s electricity.

Then, the Danish government saw an opportunity to build a new industry. Through a combination of
national policies and subsidies, and in concert with local communities and
utilities, the country made wind energy a national priority. By 1990, Danish wind
energy was ready to explode.

Two: Subsidies allowed market to grow

Denmark introduced a fixed
feed-in tariff in 1993 to make installation of wind power competitive, an
economic incentive that allowed the market to grow. Danish wind projects also
received a refund from the Danish carbon tax, and a partial refund on the nation’s
energy tax.

The cumulative effect of these refunds
doubled the
payment to wind projects for the first
five years of their operations, according to the International
Renewable Energy Agency. By 2000, Danish
wind capacity had increased more than seven-fold to 2,390 megawatts.

Eight years later, the Danish
government developed an energy agreement that included the installation of
two big offshore wind farms of 200 megawatts each.

Three: Consumers helped pay for wind

In 2009, Denmark
introduced an environmental premium of $0.05/kWh and added a $0.004/kWh
compensation to balance the costs of wind energy.

It meant that consumers paid for
the costs of connecting offshore wind farms, with financing managed by the
Danish Energy Agency. As a result of these policies, wind energy continues to
grow in Denmark, bringing its goal of 100-percent renewables by 2050 within
sight.

If the Danes can do it, so can we

This takes us back to the U.S.,
a nation that has historically led the world on innovation and economic
leadership.

Over the last five years, net solar electricity generation
increased more than 10 times. Net wind electricity more than doubled, making
the U.S. one of the fastest-growing wind energy markets in the world.

And yet, wind accounts for just 5
percent of our energy and solar less than 1 percent. This is unfortunate, considering that we have enough
wind energy potential in the lower 48 alone to power America’s current
electricity consumption nine times over, according to the National Renewable
Energy Laboratory.

The NREL also estimates that our
total solar potential is an astounding 100 times greater than our current
electricity consumption.

Just imagine what we could do if
our political leaders had the same vision as the Danes. Imagine where we could
be in 10 or 20 years if we looked to Denmark as a model for fully integrating
government leadership with local communities and utilities.

Thanks to the Danish experiment,
we have a blueprint. And this American environmentalist is inspired and eager
to see the Danish model spread.

Sam Parry

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Comments

John Wickham

August 12, 2014at 6:10 pm (ET)

Great success story, well-told! The free-market narrative so prevalent in the US, which, as Sam Parry notes, gives rise to cries of a "war on coal" and to outright denial of the science of global warming, is often most generously funded by the dominant economic actors in the oil, gas, and related fossil fuel and transportation industries with the most to lose from a Danish-like shift to renewable fuels. But as Sam's sprightly and simple story demonstrates, when there's a will there's a way! P.S. I wonder how Bjorn Lomborg would view Denmark's shift? Would he see it as a success? Or as a misguided national priority?

Clark

August 14, 2014at 12:31 pm (ET)

Informative article: One thought may be that you could start a larger percentage increase in renewables in smaller communities and be able to demonstrate those successes in the new energy model. The investment money and tax incentives would follow to the larger cities and so on. As Sam put it above the existing actors want to milk that cow until the end no matter the climate outcome...

I am shocked that only 5% of our power come's from wind energy. And I am even more shocked that only 1% is solar energy. Very interesting read, Sam. It would be nice to come back and see whether we've been able to improve both wind and solar energy 10 times that volume in the years to come.